Lady Codebreaker

To me, a great historical fiction novel hits two notes: it is in itself a captivating story, but also it is interesting enough that I want to learn more about the history it references. Lady Codebreaker definitely hit both of those notes, and I find myself obsessed with codes once more, picking up the threads I left after reading Alan Hodges’s book on Alan Turing.

Lady Codebreaker follows the story of Grace and Robert, a married couple who are cryptoanalysts for the US military. The story spans a massive 4 decades, starting from their entry into code breaking and moving into the aftermath of World War 2. Readers get a glimpse of the painstaking process and the import of code breaking from the tail end of WWI through the prohibition and all through WWII.

Through Grace, we experience the position of women and the challenges and heartbreak that went along with simply being female in that time. We get a taste of the strength of female friendships and the bitterness of rivalry. There are so many beautiful quotes in this book that I can’t wait to take a highlighter to once I get a physical copy.

In Robert, we get a heartbreaking look into issues of depression and mental health. This theme is apparent from the very beginning of the prologue, and every time we jump forward into the post-war era, my heart broke a little more for him.

The way Alden weaves the story through the decades, jumping the reader back and forth between war time and post-war time makes the unfolding of events hit so much harder than a purely chronological telling. It also makes the vast timespan encompassed by the plot feel less overwhelming.

This is a wonderful story for any historical fiction lover, woman in STEM, proponent of mental health awareness, and any woman looking for a beautiful yet heartbreaking read. I will absolutely be adding this to my high school math classroom library (the romance is all closed door) as soon as it is released for use in book groups.